Taking place several months after the events of The Wizard Of Oz,
Return To Oz picks up with Dorothy (endearingly played here by a young Fairuza
Balk) having trouble sleeping in her new house. It's not the new place that's
keeping her up nights, it's the adventures that she had in the enchanted Land of
Oz that she can't stop talking about--much to the dismay of her Auntie Em and
Uncle Henry. Genuinely concerned about Dorothy's well being, Auntie Em (Piper
Laurie) decides to take her to see Doctor J.B. Worley (Nicol Williamson) who
practices healing via electricity. Dorothy has to stay overnight at Worley's
clinic, which turns out to be an ominous place filled with frenzied screams in
the night and a very creepy aide named Nurse Wilson (Jean Marsh, who wears what
has got to be the scariest dress seen on film in recent years). During a raging
thunderstorm, which kills the power, Dorothy escapes the clinic with the help of
another, somewhat mysterious girl. Diving into the storm-swollen river to evade capture by
Nurse Wilson, Dorothy is washed away. When she wakes up, Dorothy finds that she
is on the fringes of the Deadly Desert, back in Oz.
Accompanied by Billina the talking chicken, Dorothy sets out to once more
explore her favorite fantasyland--only to find that it is now a deserted,
crumbling wasteland, with all of its citizens having been turned into stone.
After being chased through the ruins of The Emerald City by a gang of wheeled
beings called, aptly enough, the Wheelers, Dorothy discovers that a mysterious
entity known as The Nome King has seized control of all of Oz shortly after she
had returned home. Reviving Tik-Tok, a bulbous man of metal known by his
official title as the Army Of Oz, Dorothy sets out to find this Nome King, and
to try and restore Oz and its people to their former glory.
Released in 1985, Return To Oz did not exactly light up the box office. But
since then, thanks to home video and TV airings, it has duly gained a reputation
as being a fantasy classic in its own right. Fairuza Balk deftly handles the
thankless task of following Judy Garland's classic performance of Dorothy with
great self-confidence. Her Dorothy is a sweet, fair-minded little girl who is so
polite that she curtsies everyone whom she meets--even the villains, Princess Mombi
(also played by Marsh) and the Nome King himself (also played by Williamson).
The oddball collection of fantastical personalities--Tik-Tok, Jack Pumpkinhead,
and The Gump--that she meets along the way are also each fully realized as a
character. With the exception of a few obvious matt lines in some effects shots,
the make up and special effects of the film also hold up very well. The Nome
King and his domain are created by the Will Vinton studios, which used
traditional clay animation (moving the clay painstakingly frame by frame, in the
same style that the great Ray Harryhausen did with models) to astonishing effect.
Return To Oz is a highly recommended as a family film--but beware, for it does
get intensely dark in some areas, which might scare small children. One example
in particular is when it is revealed that Princess Mombi is using a series of
interchangeable heads on her body. When Dorothy is spotted while trying to nab
the Powder Of Life from a cabinet, all of the assembled disembodied heads begin
screaming while Mombi's headless body rises up to give chase to Dorothy. It's a
great, scary moment, which still manages to send a chill or two up my spine, but
it might be a little too intense for the wee ones.
The Disney DVD is superb. Both the picture and sound are clear, and the film is
present in widescreen. Special features include an interview with the now grown
up Balk, who talks about what it was like to shoot the movie and the effect that
Return To Oz had on her career. There are also the original theatrical trailers
and TV spots. It would have been nice to have a "making of" documentary,
especially one that covered the making of the special effects--but alas, there is
no such thing here. A special note for those of you who are deaf or hard of
hearing: there are actually two DVD versions of Return To Oz on the market. An
earlier version was released without any closed captions or subtitles. So make
sure you get the Disney DVD, for it's the one that comes equipped with CC. --SF